This article is the subject of a legal complaint made on behalf of Tony Halsall.

Andrew Lansley, the former health secretary, has denied accusations that his department dismissed concerns about the Care Quality Commission and said he had in fact refused calls for a whistleblower to be removed.

He was responding to statements made by Kay Sheldon, a member of the CQC board, who wrote in the Mail on Sunday that the health department had asked her to stop going to board meetings in 2011 and that the commission's chairman at the time, Jo Williams, had written to Lansley asking him to remove her.

Lansley, now leader of the House of Commons, confirmed that Williams had asked for Sheldon to be dismissed. But in an interview with Sky News he said that, as the cabinet minister responsible for the regulator, he did not follow the advice.

He said: "Contrary to what she recommended, I said I would see Kay Sheldon, and I did; that I would give her an opportunity to comment, and she did, and I didn't remove her from the board." He conceded that had told Sheldon he was considering the question of her dismissal but insisted "it wasn't a threat". He had given her whistleblower status.

Lansley also said the last thing needed by people who had suffered through the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS trust, or who needed confidence rebuilt in the NHS, was "a political ding-dong" – as Andy Burnham, the last Labour health secretary, who is under pressure over his own role in the CQC scandal, tried to raise the political stakes.

Burnham said he had written to the current health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, saying that the health department must set an example for full openness by publishing its risk register on how the recent structural changes to the NHS in England might affect hospitals and other services.

Responding to Burnham, who is now shadow health minister, the health department said that while "the safety of patients should never be compromised by secrecy", the Labour MP's intervention was unhelpful.

Andy Burnham. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

In a statement, a spokesman said there was "a clear distinction between transparency regarding regulation and direct patient safety, as was the case with Morecambe Bay, and that around internal documents like risk registers which are designed to give ministers frank policy advice". The spokesman said the two issues should not be confused.

Burnham also denied suggestions he had pressured the CQC during his term in office as the fallout escalated from the regulator's failure to investigate the alarming number of the deaths of babies within the Morecambe Bay NHS hospitals trust in Cumbria and the subsequent cover-up.

David Morris, the Conservative MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, had also asked Burnham in an open letter how much pressure he had put on the CQC.

"I never said to the CQC: 'Don't say that, do say the other.' That wasn't my role, they were an independent regulator," Burnham told Sky News. "The central allegation that I was kind of in that period trying to say 'don't do anything, don't say anything, don't bring any problems out, keep them all hidden', is fundamentally disproved by the decisions I took in relation to expediting the registration of hospitals."

Burnham said that the "cover-up" over Morecambe Bay "happened on this government's watch, not on our watch".

Elsewhere, it was reported that Roger Davidson, former head of media and public affairs for the CQC, was forced out of his job just before the election after revealing that a quarter of NHS trusts had failed to meet basic hygiene standards. The Sunday Telegraph said he was forced to sign a gagging order when he left.

There have also been reports that Carl Hendrickson, a father considering legal action over the deaths of his wife and newborn son at Furness general hospital, which is included within the Morecambe Bay NHS trust, had been offered £3,000 by the trust's chief executive of the time, Tony Halsall.

Hendrickson, who worked as a cleaner at the hospital, had regarded this move as a bribe.

Halsall denied the claim on Sunday, saying: "At [Hendrickson's] request, the human resources director and I met him at his home to talk about how, as a good employer, we may be able to help him. He told us that ideally he would like to relocate to Preston to be near his family. We discussed some financial support to help with relocation as well as practical help in looking for work within the NHS, which the HR director subsequently undertook."

The health service ombudsman has confirmed that it was investigating the behaviour of the now-abolished NHS North West strategic health authority at the time of the failings at Furness, but would not comment on the details of its investigations.

Mike Farrar, now chief executive of the NHS confederation, representing trusts, formerly led NHS North West.

Michael O'Higgins, chairman of the NHS Confederation, said that the inquiry by the ombudsman was routine: "If a chief executive stood down every time there was a complaint about his or her organisation, and not about them personally, it would not make sense. There is no reason for the chief executive of the NHS confederation to stand aside while this inquiry takes place."

Labour's John Woodcock, whose Barrow and Furness constituency includes Furness general hospital, part of the trust, demanded that an independent inquiry set up by the NHS into failings at Morecambe Bay start immediately and be widened to include the cover-up at the healthcare watchdog, the CQC.

"The more questions that are raised about this murky business the more important it becomes to investigate further, including who outside the CQC was aware, and what they did," Woodcock said.